This course presents a methodology for designing and deploying a VMware Horizon® solution. The design methodology includes recommendations for the type of information and data that must be gathered and analyzed to make sound design decisions for the client systems, the desktop options, the VMware vSphere® infrastructure, and the Horizon components. VMware best practices are presented for each phase of the design process. During this class, you apply your new knowledge by working with other participants to design and deploy a Horizon solution for a real-world project.

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

• Assess the business and application requirements of an environment
• Design a Horizon infrastructure architecture that addresses the needs of the organization and follows VMware best practices
• Document a design that can be implemented
• Design and deploy a comprehensive Horizon solution

Experienced system administrators and system integrators responsible for designing and implementing Horizon solutions

• Virtualized desktop implementation experience
• Understanding of concepts presented in the Horizon (with View): Install, Configure, Manage course or equivalent experience
• Understanding of concepts presented in the VMware Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals course

1. Course Introduction

• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives

2. Infrastructure Assessment

• Define customer business objectives
• Gather and analyze business and application requirements
• Use a systematic methodology to evaluate and document design decisions

3. View Design

• Identify the design process to build a Horizon solution
• Use the Horizon reference architecture to deploy a Horizon solution
• Outline the process to define a use case
• Determine use cases for a given business case study

4. Pool and Desktop Design

• Map use cases to Horizon instances and Horizon pools
• Create and deploy desktop pools for a given use case
• List the key considerations for sizing hardware for a desktop virtual machine
• Identify key virtual desktop performance tuning and Windows optimizations and their effects on Horizon performance

5. Horizon Block and Pod Design

• Identify the components of a typical Horizon block and pod
• Outline the relationships between Horizon management block components
• Design a Horizon desktop block and pod configuration for a given use case
• Configure cloud pod architecture for multisite pool access

6. VMware Infrastructure Design

• Identify factors and design decisions that determine the sizing for VMware ESXiâ„¢ hosts
• Estimate and size CPU and memory requirements
• Describe the design considerations for sizing network capacity
• Outline the privileges that are required by an administrative user account

7. Storage Design

• Identify factors that determine the sizing for shared storage
• Identify benefits of using tiered storage for linked-clone pools
• Identify use cases and benefits of using View Storage Accelerator
• Identify use cases and benefits of using persistent disks and disposable-files disks in linked-clone desktops
• Identify use cases and benefits of using VMware Virtual SANâ„¢

8. Network and Security Design

• Identify the design decisions related to bandwidth utilization
• Identify use cases and benefits of using load balancing and traffic management
• Identify the best practices for avoiding network congestion
• Identify use cases and benefits of using firewalls for DMZ-based security servers

9. End-User Session and Device Design

• Identify VMware best practices for Active Directory containers, groups, and Group Policy object policies in a Horizon solution
• Discuss alternatives for managing user profiles
• Describe benefits of using View Persona Management
• Identify client device characteristics and requirements

10. Deploying and Managing Applications

• Describe the importance of the application delivery mechanism
• Determine which Horizon application tool should be used to accomplish which business objectives
• Design and create Remote Desktop Services farms and application pools to support the deployment of applications